Fastenings between springs or other elements



Sept. 3, 1935. D, BARNARD v 2,013,595

FASTENINGS BETWEEN SPRINGS OR OTHER ELEMENTS Filed Jan. 6, 1953 Patented Sept. 3, 1935 UNlTE l STA FASTENINGS BETWEEN SPRINGS OR OTHER ELEMENTS Dean S. Barnard, Hinsdale, Ill., assignor to The Rome Company, Inc., a corporation of New York It is a common practice, in bed spring construction, to tie together corresponding coils of the vertical upholstering springs with small crossed helical springs. The connections between the ends of the helical springs and the upholstering springs should be such as to afford the capacity for the desired relative movements without permitting other relative movements and without causing the creation of any appreciable amount of noise as the spring cushion as a whole is flexed. Viewed in one of its aspects, the present invention may be said to have for its object to produce novel connections between the helical springs or other tie means and the upholstering springs, which shall be extremely simple, permit the ties to be secured to the upholstering springs by a simple snap action, prevent the slipping of the ties along the wires of the upholstering springs, or other objectionable relative movements, and which shall render a bed spring or other cushion in which such connections are employed practically noiseless.

Although my invention is particularly applicable to bed springs or other spring cushions, it is not limited to this particular field, but may be said to have for its object to produce a simple and novel non-slipping hinge connection between any wire-like member and another member.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing fragments of two upholstering springs having between them a tie connected thereto in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a side view of one end of the tie spring, the wire of the upholstering spring with which the tie spring is engaged being shown in section; and Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of one of the connections.

Referring to the drawing, l represents a wire which may be the upper or any other turn or coil of any usual or suitable vertical upholstering spring. At a point where a tie is to be attached, I provide the wire with an abrupt inward bend producing a more or less V-shaped projection 2 lying in the plane of the coil. The tie member is shown as taking the form of a helical spring 3 of small diameter, although in the broader aspects of my invention, the tie may be of any other type. For the purpose of connecting the tie to the wire, I

have provided the tie with a hook formed of a 1 loop that is bent or folded upon itself. The arms 4 and 5 of the loop, toward the base of the hook, are spaced apart a distance about equal to the greatest width of the V-shaped projection on the wire. The loop narrows toward its closed end, so that the arms converge toward the nose of the hook. Consequently, the hook may be slipped over the wire I at the point where the projection is located; the projection passing through the wider space between the arms of the loop or through what may be termed an opening or window in the hook. Therefore, the wider part of the hook may overlie the wire at the opposite ends of the projection, whereas the narrower nose underlies the projection itself. The hook is closed far enough so that the gap through which the wire may enter is narrower than the diameter of the wire; thereby making it necessary for the hook to be sprung open slightly when it is pressed upon the wire, and preventing the hook from becoming accidentally disengaged.

In order that the wire may readily find its way into the mouth or jaw of the hook, I prefer to make the loop long enough so that the nose portion may be bent back upon itself, as indicated at 6. In other words, the hook is made S-shaped, the free arm or wing of the 8 serving as a guide for a wire entering the hook proper.

Where the tie is in the form of a helical spring, as shown, the snap hook is produced by providing a sufficient extra length of wire at one end of the spring to form a hairpin loop projecting in the direction of the length of the spring from the end of the latter. The free end of the wire is preferably fastened to the endmost coil of the helical spring by being wrapped around it, as shown at I, or otherwise. This hairpin loop is then bent or folded along two transverse lines to produce a hook Whose effective nose is spaced only a short distance apart from the endmost coil of the helical spring.

A connection between the spring and the wire may be made by simply placing the hook over the projection in the wire and pressing it until the wire snaps into the seat in the hook. While the tie and the wire are now satisfactorily united against accidental separation, the tie may readily be disconnected, if desired. It will be seen that, because the projection on the wire extends through the opening or window in the hook, it prevents the hook from sliding along the wire. Furthermore, the hook provides a hinge connection bet een the tie and the wire to the extent that, if the wire I, as it appears to the observer in Fig. 1, is pressed away from him, the movement will be as free as though there were an ordinary hinge joint between the tie and the wire. However, if it be attempted to swing the tie member 3 about the wire as an axis, away from the observer, the nose portion of the hook will bind upon the projection in the wire and prevent any hinge action. The result of this construction which limits the hinge action between the tie springs and the upholstering springs is that. when one of two adjacent upholstering springs is pressed down while the other remains -up; there will be a sliding or rubbing action at only 'one end of the tie spring connecting the two .upholstering springs together, the tie springflbeing compelled to bend because of a fixed anchorage at one end; the result being that the number of points at which metal surfaces are rubbing-upon each other whenever the bed spring 'or spring cushion is being unevenly compressed, is only half as great as it is in the ordinary construction, and therefore the means for producing noise are also cut in half and the spring will be practically noiseless in use. Furthermore, since the ties are efiectively held against slipping out of place along the coils of the upholstering springs, there will never be any. cramping or bindingrwhich will produce squeaking noises in the use of the bed spring or cushion.

In Fig. v1, I have shown the tie element connected. at both ends .to upholstering springs, there being,'in addition to the spring. I, a second spring E3. Both ends of the tie are provided with snap hooks of the kind described, and the wire IE! is provided with a projection 2 for engagement with the snap hook on the adjacent end of the tie. When either upholstering spring is compressed while the other remains-extended, the-tie acts as though it were fixed to the latter upholstering spring and hinged to the one that is being compressed.

As heretofore explained, it is not essential that the invention be applied to a connection between a helical spring and another spring, nor is it essential that the snap hooks be made from a piece of wire first bent into a loop and then folded or bent into a simple hook or an S-shaped hook. In other words, I do not desire to be lim- 'ited to the specific details illustrated and de- "scribed, but intend to cover all forms and arrangements that come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

'LIclaim:

1. A wire tension spring having an end of the wire shaped into a loop projecting lengthwise of the spring beyond the same axially thereof, said loop being bent on two separated lines extending between the side members thereof into an S shape, and that bend nearest the free end of the loopbeingnear the endmost coil of the spring.

I'2.'In combination, a wire member having a lateral projectionthereon and a-wire tension spring adapted to be detachably connected-to saidwire; an end of the wire of the'spring being shapedinto long loop having gradually converging sides and projecting lengthwise of the spring beyond the end of'the latter,-said loop being bent on two separated lines extending be tween the side'members of-the loop-into an s-shape, said loop being hooked over said wire member so as to engage with the latter-at'the bend nearest the base of the loop while said projection extends through the space between the arms of the loop and prevents the loop from sliding lengthwise of said wire member.

DEAN S. "BARNARD. 

